Affymetrix's CEO Discusses Q1 2012 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

Affymetrix's CEO Discusses Q1 2012 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

During this call, we may make various remarks about the company's future expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of Safe Harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially for Affymetrix from those projected. These risk factors are discussed in Affymetrix's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, and on other SEC reports, including our prior period quarterly report on Form 10-Q. We encourage you to review these documents carefully as forward-looking statements are made as of today's date, and we make no obligation to update this information.

With that, let me turn the call over to Frank.

Frank Witney

Thanks, Doug, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm happy to tell you that our hard work has begun to pay off. We're making steady progress in stabilizing the business and we're seeing growth in important new product lines. In the first quarter, we did a good job of controlling our expenses and overall, we are on track towards our goal of returning the overall business to growth in 2012.

Before discussing the core Affymetrix business in the first quarter, I'd like to take a minute to give you an update on the status of our previously announced acquisition of eBioscience. Despite working diligently on this acquisition over the last 4 months, I'm disappointed to tell you that we have not been able to reach an agreement with eBioscience that would allow us to complete the merger. We have an ongoing discussion, and we'll let you know when we have clarity on the status of the acquisition.

The positive news is that our core business is improving and we have roughly $170 million in cash that provides us significant flexibility going forward. We continue to focus 100% of our attention on our core business.